the adventures of alyssa

Bun in the oven updates: Weeks 18, 19, and 20, all in one!

Whew! I’ve been busy, and then was out of town for a few days in Denver for Fitbloggin. I’m behind on my bumpdates, so here’s a combined one for weeks 18, 19, and 20 and I’ll be back later this week to reveal baby C’s gender!

How far along? 20 weeks and 3 days! I’m MORE THAN HALFWAY THERE! WooHOO!Baby’s Size: A belgian endive. I’m only familiar with a regular endive, and this veggie comparison is perplexing to me, because the baby is 10 inches, and all the endives I’ve seen are like four inches. I guess Belgian endive must be a larger variety?Weight Gain: While I was up two, the last two weeks I’ve been particularly full after small amounts (baby is growing and pressing against tummy!), so I’m back to only one pound gained. Works for me! I really hope I can keep up this trend, though I know the next few weeks the baby itself will start to gain weight (it’s just under 1 pound now).Maternity clothes? Indeed! I love my striped dress I wore in last week’s photo, and I’ve been doing a lot more loose knit dresses and leggings. While a couple people at the conference this week said I don’t look pregnant, I can definitely feel and see a small bump forming. I should probably take a 20 week photo but that would require going outside in the current 102 degree heat… so it will have to wait until Thursday, when I’m 21 weeks!Best moment this week: While traveling hasn’t been especially easy on me (lots of nausea and tiredness, but in Denver in particular that could have been altitude sickness), I loved seeing all of my Fitbloggin friends. Of particular awesomeness was a delicious lunch sponsored by California Avocados. Mmmm, avocados. People were so kind and joyful about my pregnancy, and I really appreciated how excited people were for us. Makes me smile knowing Baby C comes into this world with a whole army of supporters behind them.Miss anything? Sleeping on my stomach! My snoogle is keeping me decently comfortable, but side-sleeping is not my jam. (Disclosure: That snoogle link is an affiliate link. If you click on it, I get rich! (Or make a penny. But you know, it’s all in your attitude, right?)Movement: YES! I’ve been feeling “stuff” the past week, but wasn’t sure if it was rumbly intestine type stuff or the little acrobat. After some pretty definite “Whoa, I’ve never felt that before” I decided I’m definitely feeling kicks and jabs. Since I identified it, I feel like I feel it all the time now. Super cool, and helps me ward off free-floating concern about how the little one is doing in there. Matt is anxious to feel it but I think it will probably be another week or two until the little sprout can kick strong enough to get through that pillow-like anterior placenta and soft tummy so he can feel it.Food cravings: Week 18 brought an odd craving: saurkraut! I like saurkraut, so it’s not like it was a random new craving, but it was a bizarre thing to crave. I also wanted raw carrots, strawberries, and on the unhealthy side, plain potato chips. I did make Matt pick up some guacamole for me from Chipotle in Denver 🙂Anything making you queasy or sick: Sadly, I had a bout of random barfing last Monday, followed by some nausea in Denver last weekend. I think it’s super weird that I’ve struggled more with nausea in my second trimester than my first, but that’s how the cookie crumbles for some people.Gender: We’ll have 100% confirmation on Thursday. Hooray!Labor signs: None, and fully intending on keeping it this way.Symptoms: Tiredness, some free-floating nausea, holy heartburn, more klutzy as my abdomen poofs up.Happy or moody most of the time: I definitely cry more easily, like after being inspired by Keep It Up David’s story, or when someone told me I had a sweet and fresh face (I think that was more I was feeling so crummy and nauseous that day, that someone being so nice to me was just really appreciated.) I’m starting to have some anxiety about being a parent (as in holy wow huge life change!), but I know that’s totally normal and if I didn’t feel that way, it’d be concerning!Looking forward to: our anatomy scan on Thursday, and a nice, long 3 day weekend!